Windsor council just made a big decision behind closed doors. Here's why that matters
Decision to hold confidential meeting should be made 'very carefully,' says political science prof
Windsor city council made a major, unprecedented decision behind closed doors recently, sparking concerns over local democracy.
Never before has council taken control of all nine Business Improvement Associations (BIA). Just as shocking for some, the 11 elected officials made that decision without any community consultation, public debate or notice.
Councillors went in camera on Feb. 27. Under the Municipal Act, they can do so when they're talking about identifiable individuals. When they were in camera, they voted to take control of all nine of the city's BIAs without any notice or debate in public.
Tom Urbaniak, a political science professor at Cape Breton University, said decisions for councils to meet confidentially should be made "very carefully."
"That's not allowing the public to engage in the issue at all," he said. "It's simply turning citizens into passive clients. You sit back, rest assured and we'll tell you at some point, maybe, what we decided. That's not good enough. That's not a democratic system."
On Feb. 27, members of council met as a committee to discuss which members of the public they'd appoint to boards, including who would sit on the BIAs based on the BIAs' own elections. At some point, councillors voted to appoint themselves to those so they could create a new structure of governing all nine BIAs.
City clerk Steve Vlachodimos says council will vote whether to ratify that decision on March 20. That's when members of the public can speak on the subject.
"To me, that's the proper format," he said.
WATCH: Here's why Tom Urbaniak says the public should care:
Ontario's Municipal Act says meetings should be open to the public unless they're discussing one of the following:
- The security of municipal property or a board.
- Personnel matters involving someone identifiable.
- Acquiring land.
- Labour relations.
- Litigation and matters related to solicitor-client privilege.
- Trade secrets belonging to or given to the municipality that could interfere with its competitive position.
- Discussions about Ombudsman investigations.
"Local governments are the lifeblood of democracy," Urbaniak said.
"If we don't have a sense about not only what our local governments are deciding, but what deliberations happen to lead to those decisions, then that is actually a threat to our democracy."
Melinda Munro disagrees with how the city interpreted the Municipal Act in this case. She's asked an external investigator to look into it.
Any member of the public can use the process she's using if they agree with a particular time council discussed a topic behind closed doors.
"I was pretty stunned that this issue of removing authority from a BIA, how could that possibly be allowed?" Muncro said.
"There's nothing that needs to be kept private. What's private about that?"
Munro filed that request on Thursday for someone to review these circumstances.
The lawyer and municipal consultant remembers reacting "with quite a bit of outrage" after learning council made this decision in private.
"We elect our officials to do business in public," she said.